


An Angel On Your Shoulder

by PanicOnBord



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: "Angel" Bill Cipher, Alternate Universe, But like More Religious-y Demon Bill Cipher, Demon Bill Cipher, M/M, Manipulative Bill Cipher, Maybe - Freeform, Not Suitable/Safe For Work, Orange, Priest, Priest Ford Pines, angel - Freeform, citrus, ford doesn't realize bill's even doing anything on purpose, manipulative undercover seduction/teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-06-02 12:31:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19441528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanicOnBord/pseuds/PanicOnBord
Summary: A brief scene into an au where Ford is a priest at an isolated church and Bill, an """"angel"""" (read: demon), has started coming around.He could barely believe it at first, but surely he couldn’t be anything evil if he could enter the church so easily. So, it only lent that what he told was the truth. An angel that went by the name of... Bill. Bill Cipher.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If I had the strength to make the smut for this, believe me, I would have.

He could barely believe it at first, but surely he couldn’t be anything evil if he could enter the church so easily. So, it only lent that what he told was the truth. An angel that went by the name of... Bill. Bill Cipher.

In truth, Ford thought that getting to introduce others to the angel would be a great idea. Just one interaction with an angel could help people persevere through the worst of times (it made him feel spoiled to get to speak with one himself on more than a single instance in this manner). However, he’d insisted against it. He was there solely for Ford, he said, and Ford was so overwhelmed by just that. It was too much of an honor for any one person to have an angel for himself. He was the only member at this church though, maybe that was why. 

It actually wasn’t very much work though as it was rather isolated. It was very rare for anyone to come to this church, but he felt a duty to remain here all the same for any lost souls. The real reason it was so barren at this time was due to the cold weather. Summertime people were more willing to go to church, but when it was cold it was practically a lost cause. 

Ford didn’t mind very much, actually. He did like the solitude, but the more Bill graced him with his presence the more he came to appreciate the momentary company in a more human manner rather than for the fact of him being an angel. 

When Bill came to him this time, he was lighting candles when they all went out. Ford couldn’t help smiling at the now familiar sign of Bill’s presence. 

From a nearby window, there he was, gleaming golden hair practically shining. Th angel crouched on the ledge into the building. He dropped down the three story drop with ease.

“Bill!” Ford greeted him happily. 

“My priest.” Bill smiled at him. The greeting glowed warm in Ford’s chest. 

“I’m starting to think I should call you my angel.” Ford joked in return. He’d since learned that Bill was not so serious and seemed to appreciate Ford more when he allowed himself to relax around him. 

“You should!” 

“No, it’s too much.” 

“It’s true.” Bill countered.

It felt too indulgent. “It’s good to see you again, as always.” He changed the subject. 

Bill rolled his eyes. Ford never would have imagined an angel like this before. “What would you do if I never came again?”

“I would be thankful to have gotten to speak with you as often as I have.”

“You’re too good.”

“Company may be to blame.” He replied with a quirk of his lip. 

Bill grinned. “So quick witted, that’s why I enjoy our visits.”

Ford hummed and turned back to the candles to light them again. He felt Bill brush up beside him. “I think,” Ford said, “I’ve grown a bit more...at ease speaking back to you.”

“You’re less shy now.” Bill’s hand crooked onto Ford’s shoulder.

A fluttery feeling went up his body and seemed to come out in a quiet, airy laugh. The touch of an angel, though not entirely new to him anymore, still had an effect on him. It would with any mortal being, he was sure. 

“Why are you still lighting them?” Bill asked. 

“Well, if someone arrives then this will be here for them.”

Bill toyed with an unlit candle, playing with the wax in his hand. “If someone shows up then they could wait the five minutes it would take you to light candles for them. When was your last visitor?”

“When you were last here.”

“Then you know there’s no point in lighting these candles every day!” 

Ford conceded. “It does waste wax.” He paused momentarily as he was lighting candles, considering it for a moment. “I like it for myself.” He admitted. “It’s something I can do here.”

Bill put the candle back and readjusting, arm slinging around Ford’s back and around onto his other shoulder. “You’re such a cute human.” He said, the amused words close beside Ford’s ear. 

Ford’s heart beat up against his chest, distracting him. “Ha...” It took him a moment to remember what he was doing, and he continued lighting the candles, careful now to not lean forward with Bill’s arm around him. 

Bill’s chin eventually rested onto Ford’s shoulder, likely watching as he lit the candles. He could feel Bill’s finger on his shoulder idly moving and pressing in a repeating pattern back and forth. Pressed against his back like Bill was now too Ford was quickly warming up wherever Bill was in contact with him which was especially pleasant in such a drafty building. 

Ford breathed slowly, his mind blanking out on everything except for the sensations Bill was creating. The warmth and the small but constant movement of a fingernail through the martial of his robe. 

Bill’s hand moved then, sliding down to grip onto the side of Ford’s arm and just the simple benign movement with his fingers pressed against his arm like that shot straight through Ford like a fire he didn’t even know existed. A sudden intense desire for the angel, for him to continue holding onto him like this, for him to touch him more, for... 

Ford stifled his breath, ashamed to even have  _ that  _ kind of attraction to an angel. Just the desire itself felt like he had just crossed some unspoken boundary. He was lucky to even be able to consider an angel his  _ friend _ . 

A friendly hand on his shoulder should not have incited a reaction like that, and for it to be with the epitome of a pure being just made it all the  _ less  _ reason for him to have that kind of reaction.

Being aware of the feeling did not help him in doing anything about it. He tried to squash it down, but he couldn’t entirely ignore Bill’s presence against him and even now he felt himself gradually warming up. 

For a split second, he considered the possibility that maybe the touch of an angel was just so overwhelming that he wasn’t able to control his reaction, but as soon as the very idea crossed his mind he felt immensely guilty as though he was trying to shift the blame off of himself. Even if he was in the presence of someone trying to incite such behavior, and he had been before, he should have been able to at least control himself. For something like this to persist in a situation that wasn’t even remotely sexual...

“My priest.” Bill said.

The term struck him, as though directly touching at something inside his chest in a way that made it feel completely open and vulnerable and breathless all at once. “Yes.”

“The candles.” 

Ford suddenly realized that he had stopped lighting the candles at some point when he had gotten distracted. He had simply been standing in place for however long. “Right.” He quickly answered. “Ah, I think I’m just a little tired today.” He said, straightening a few of the candles for the sake of doing something with his hands.

“It’s not a cold, is it?”

“No. No, I’m sure it’s not. I think I just didn’t quite sleep enough.” Ford said, waving a hand.

Bill leaned back up, the warmth leaving Ford. His hand gliding over to his back casually, something Ford largely ignored as he turned to face Bill. (Although, he found himself missing the contact). 

The angel hummed, firelight gleaming off of him. “If you’re tired, maybe I should go.” He suggested. “I can always come back another time.”

He should agree with him. He didn’t want Bill to leave though. Momentarily stuck between gently encouraging Bill to leave and assuring Bill he was fine so that he wouldn’t go so soon. Ford cleared his throat. “Well, that’s up to you. I’ll more than easily be able to stay awake, but I wouldn’t wish you to stay simply because I asked.” 

“Are you asking for me to stay?” Bill watched him.

Ford faltered. “I’d never ask you to leave.”

Bill smiled. “Then it’s settled!” He said, patting Ford’s shoulder. “I’m staying.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Power Hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this months ago and have been meaning to post it. (Realized after writing it that it wound up reALLY close to a ficlet from anysin-can-hadplen on tumblr, so guess I got inspired from it so shout out to them!!)

He still had reservations about closing the church doors. He worried about closing off from people that could have shown up (that never did now though) but what if someone did and they came to locked doors. 

Ford put his own feelings on the matter aside though. Bill had told him to do this, and even if Ford himself couldn’t see the good it would do he didn’t doubt Bill. He still wasn’t entirely sure why Bill had been visiting solely him on earth, but it had to be important. The most Bill would say was that he would see and about great things to be done, that  _ he _ would do. Just needed a little guidance from Bill to put him on the path. 

Of all beings, one didn’t need to question that an angel knew best. 

It still made Ford a bit restless the majority of time when Bill wasn’t around though. All the more appreciated when Bill showed. 

Ford had tried to be patient. Maybe unsuccessfully, he supposed. If he was going to pray for Bill though, he was at least going to try and do it with as much respect as possible. Bill had only made an off handed comment about praying to him. He hadn’t  _ quite _ suggested it as much as just let him know of it as a possibility.

The more Ford thought about it the more nervous he got at the idea of praying for Bill simply for his presence. More days passed without Bill though and Ford wanted to at least try. 

He picked the grandest room and set candles around it, hoping the ceremony of preparing the room for Bill was how he was supposed to do this. Yellowed wax dripped down the side of the candles and over gilded stands and onto the old wood or thick, cold stone of the floor. 

He knelt onto the stone, the cold seeping up quickly through his robes and into his skin. The comfort of a pillow somehow seemed wrong for this.

He pressed his hands flat onto the front of his thighs, closing his eyes to pray for him.

“Bill.” He should use the full name. “Bill Cipher, I ask that you grace me with your presence.”

His voice went out into the large and empty room and Ford suppressed fidgeting. What if he was just speaking aloud to no effect because he had not started properly. The room felt huge around him, his voice not reaching farther than the space just around him. 

“Please, allow me your company once more.” 

_ What is this wasn’t formal enough _ . Embarrassment and worry made his neck and ears flush. The air felt thick and suffocating. 

“I humbly seek your guidance.”

What if it wasn’t meant to have been formal at all? What would he have wanted. “Bill...”

He tried to imagine the angel listening to him. He could picture the angel, golden hair and brilliant. Details about him that seemed to have become ingrained in his mind. 

He fervently continued. “Bill... please, I want to see you again. I know I am only human, but please.” He breathed. “Your presence fills me in a way I have never known before, and I want...”  _ He was asking too much _ . Too selfish. Asking for an angel not because of any importance, but just because it was what he wished. 

Then, a hand, so much warmer than Ford’s own, pressed down over top where one of his own was on his thigh with fingers that had started to curl up. Ford stifled his breath, heart skipping a beat. 

“Finish the sentence.” Bill’s voice came from slightly above him, sinking down into the air around him, and a finger under Ford’s chin pointed his face up. 

In the moment he felt like he wanted a dozen different things, all of them from Bill. The words came out like a confession. “ _ I want you to... I want to be near you.” Just like this _ . This was all he needed. 

The finger under his chin trailed down lightly under Ford’s jaw line, barely there. Ford kept his face turned upward and his breathing quiet, still with his eyes closed as though Bill may disappear if he opened them. “Bill...” He said in quiet reverence. 

What had been a light touch turned into Bill’s hand gripping the underside of his chin, holding him in place. “ _ Open your eyes. _ ” He commanded.

Ford did and was immediately struck by the blazing intensity from Bill. His eyes burned like suns, with a bright, golden glow that was distinctly not human. There was no mistaking Bill for anything less than what he was, a higher being with immense powers. In the back of his mind, Ford distantly thought of warrior angels with flaming swords, but the comparison felt weak to Bill before him now. 

Bill pulled Ford’s face forward and Ford offered no resistance, breathing high in his chest, fingers that felt sharply tipped twisted at the edge of his face. 

It felt like a moment that could go over the edge at any point, but then the energy in the room gradually lowered. The intensity leaving Bill’s face as he appeared once more as relatively normal. Even how he held Ford’s chin simply felt like he was merely holding onto it now. 

“Isn’t that cute?” Bill said, with a giddy amusement. “You didn’t tell me you were going to pray to me!”

Ford still had not quite recovered when Bill let him go. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself to stand right now. “You mentioned it once.” He let his hands go to the floor to stabilize himself. 

“Sure did. Wooh.” He laughed to himself. “I haven’t been prayed to in centuries!”

“What?” Ford was dumbstruck. “Why not? How could that be?”

Bill waved a hand. “Eh, your whole race lost track of my name! Lost a couple texts here. Damaged another there. Eventually the information was just gone!”

“I need to write your name down then. So it doesn’t happen again.”

Bill paused for a moment like he hadn’t expected that. Just as quickly though he recovered. “Not a bad idea! Write about me. No other living human would be able to do a better job at it than you.”


End file.
